MARK OF THE BEAST - 666
"I'm afraid all your men including Camliden were killed while attempting to steal the Root of Shadow", I told Mother Asereth who was sad at losing her men, including her top liutenant.
But she wasn't too devastated by it. Losing assassins on missions was a common occurrence in her trade.
"I'm glad you made back here alive, Ivan", Mother Asereth said to me.
"I'm lucky. But what is the Root of Shadow for anyway?" I asked her.
"That Root of Shadow can awaken the magic of Shadow", she told me.
"Don't you already have shadow magic with your Solomon moves?" I asked her.
"Awakening of Shadow is different from the use of magic that mimicks shadow like what we do. Only the Mages of Prolis can awaken true Shadow magic", she explained to me.
"Then why do you want the root for, if you can't use it?" I asked her.
"Because the Mages of Prolis will pay a good price for it", she replied to me.
"Damnit, it's about money again", I asked the mother.
"Sure, we are in the assassin business and business is about money", she replied to me.
"Don't I pay your organization more than enough for your operations?" I asked her.
"It is always good to diversify our streams of income", she replied to me.
------
Upon my return to Tarah city, after an absence of more than half a year spent in Delirium, I was greeted by a landscape vastly altered from what I remembered.
To my astonishment, the city had undergone profound transformations in my absence.
Frost blanketed the cityscape for the most part, a consequence of the freezing tendrils extending from the Ice Corridor in Rizea that now reached Tarah city.
This relentless chill deterred all but the most resilient souls from venturing out onto the streets. The once bustling thoroughfares lay eerily deserted, and the familiar haunts had become prohibitively expensive to frequent.
The necessity of costly lanterns, Radiance of Agni, to ward off the biting cold had rendered even the most mundane establishments extravagantly priced.
Furthermore, security measures within the city had been escalated to unprecedented levels.
Every corner seemed to be under the watchful eye of the authorities, with checkpoints dotting the urban landscape, manned by vigilant guards and overseers dispatched by the Church.
To navigate the city unimpeded, residents were now required to bear magical tattoos etched upon their wrists or foreheads, serving as unmistakable markers of their identity.
Only those possessing the requisite markings were granted passage, while any unauthorized individuals risked apprehension and detainment at the hands of the city's vigilant enforcers.
-----
"Show me your mark?" a guard asked me as I walked into the city.
"What mark are you talking about?" I asked the guard.
"This man doesn't have a mark, arrest him immediately for the inquisition of the Church", the guard told the others as they came to arrest me.
"Nonsense", I replied to them as they suddenly floated into the air and were thrown around erratically.
"Upheaval of Greater Chaos"
"You don't even need to fight with the guards now?", Chash said to me and asked.
"My templar and bone magic are gone but somehow my body retains a good amount of chaos magic, and this chaos has improved tremendously compared to before. I'm learning to use the chaos in a less passive way now", I replied to him.
"Wow, you are the first chaos templar fighter in all the Ten-Kingdoms", Chash replied to me.
Chaos magic was usually reserved as a support magic among the templars of the Ten-Kingdoms. They were useful enough to affect the course of battles but chaos templar themselves were usually weak. Even Dean Xander from Discord College, which teaches chaos magic, wasn't a good fighter.
"It is born out of necessity", I replied to him.
However, after I lost all my templar magic and my bone magic, I needed to make use of everything or anything available to me. Utilizing my chaos magic in creative ways was the only way for me to improve my magic and defend myself.
Soon, I reached the Governor's office.
Again, guards came to arrest me and again they were thrown into the air floating around like flying furniture.
"Who comes to my office to wreak havoc", Prince Geoffraie shouted out toward me before I lifted the hood to my long robe.
"Oriese? Have you returned? I thought you were lost in Delirium", Prince Geoffraie asked me in surprise.
"We talk inside", I replied to him before I released the guards in the air and walked into the Governor's office.
------
"What the hell happened to Tarah city?" I asked Geoffraie.
"You don't know? The ice came and everything changed. Grains and food became scarce in Drachia kingdom and the people's livelihoods are affected by the frost. Everything became expensive because most people could not afford the exorbitant cost of Radiance of Agnis", Prince Geoffraie told me about the situation.
"Famine came to Tarah city?" Meera asked.
"Why are there checkpoints everywhere?" I asked.
"People became unruly in the situation. They were robbing and stealing, so we have to enforce a curfew on the streets. Only people authorized to come to the city are allowed to pass through the various checkpoints", he told me.
"That explains the magical markings on the people", Cassandra said to us.
"The markings are authorized by the Church and each of the markings are followed by a number to identify the residents", Geoffraie told me.
"How many people have you marked, like slaves?" Rinna asked the governor in disgust.
"Thousands of people have been marked and documented but they are grouped into unique runes, there were six hundred and more of these groupings in the various cities of Drachia", Geoffraie told us.
"Six hundred and Sixty Six, to be exact", Sara told us after she uploaded the latest database after she returned here.
"666?" I asked.
"That is the mark of the beast", Meera told us suddenly.
"Why will so many people be willing to be marked?" I asked.
"Without the mark, they can't queue for free grains from the Bully, I mean you. You instituted the system before you left for Delirium", Geoffraie told me.
"I can't remember instituting the system", I replied to him.